Auto-classification system and method with dynamic user feedback

ABSTRACT

An auto-classification system and method provides dynamic user feedback in a guide that is presented to the user. The feedback presented in the guide enables the user to refine the classification model by adding or removing exemplars, creating, editing or deleting rules, or performing other such adjustments to the classification model. This technology enhances the overall transparency and defensibility of the auto-classification process.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application relates to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______(Attorney Docket No. OPEN2550), filed Oct. 31, 2012, entitled“RECONFIGURABLE MODEL FOR AUTO-CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD,” whichis fully incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology relates generally to computer systems andinformation technology and, in particular, auto-classification ofelectronic documents or digital content.

BACKGROUND

In the information age, storage and management of electronic documents(digital content) is an increasingly challenging problem.

Classification of electronic documents was originally a manual task—thefunction of classifying an electronic document to determine whether andfor long to archive the document was performed by the document's authoror by some other records manager or archivist.

For records managers and others responsible for building and enforcingdocument classification policies, retention schedules, and other aspectsof a records management program, the problem with traditional manualclassification methods is that content needs to be understood todetermine why and for how long it must be retained. Managing theretention and destruction of information reduces litigation risk,reduces e-discovery and digital archiving costs, and ensures compliancewith any regulatory standards.

Many users view the process of sorting records from transient content astime-consuming and sometimes even exasperating. In addition, theubiquity of mobile devices and social media applications makes itdifficult to build standard classification tools into end-userapplications.

Furthermore, records managers also struggle with enforcing policies thatrely on manual, human-based approaches. Accuracy and consistency inapplying classification is often inadequate when left to users, thecosts in terms of productivity loss are high, and these issues, in turn,result in increased business and legal risk as well as the potential forthe entire records management program to quickly become unsustainable interms of its ability to scale.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present technology will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, taken in combinationwith the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of a networked computer system on whichembodiments of the inventive subject matter may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of a computing device for implementingembodiments of the inventive subject matter;

FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of the architecture of theauto-classification system in accordance with one embodiment of theinventive subject matter;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting steps of a method of automaticallyclassifying content in accordance with some embodiments of the inventivesubject matter;

FIG. 5 is a further flowchart depicting steps of providing dynamic userfeedback to enable the user to refine the auto-classification model; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic depiction of an auto-classification user interfacethat can present dynamic user feedback in the form of an onscreen guidein accordance with an embodiment of the inventive subject matter.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like featuresare identified by like reference numerals.

SUMMARY

The inventive subject matter described herein provides methods, systems,and computer-readable media for auto-classifying digital content byproviding dynamic user feedback that enables the user to adjust aclassification algorithm to achieve more optimal classification results.

One aspect of the inventive subject matter includes acomputer-implemented method of automatically classifying digitalcontent, the method comprising creating a classification model based onone or more selected documents that have been identified as exemplars,displaying metrics for a plurality of other documents that have beenclassified using the classification model, and displaying a userfeedback guide that presents recommended actions to refine theclassification model.

Another aspect of the inventive subject matter includes acomputer-readable medium comprising programmed instructions in codewhich, when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of acomputing device, causes the computing device to create a classificationmodel based on one or more selected documents that have been identifiedas exemplars, display metrics for a plurality of other documents thathave been classified using the classification model, and display a userfeedback guide that presents recommended actions to refine theclassification model.

Yet a further aspect of the inventive subject matter includes anauto-classification system (or automatic document classification system)comprising a processor coupled to a memory for creating a classificationmodel based on one or more selected documents that have been identifiedas exemplars and a display for displaying metrics for a plurality ofother documents that have been classified using the classification modeland for displaying a user feedback guide that presents recommendedactions to refine the classification model.

A further aspect of the inventive subject matter includes acomputer-implemented method of automatically classifying content thatentails generating a classification model based on one or more selecteddocuments that have been identified as exemplars, classifying aplurality of other documents using the classification model, displayingmetrics for the plurality of other documents that have been classifiedusing the classification model, determining recommended actions based onthe metrics to improve the classification model, and displaying a userfeedback guide that presents the recommended actions for improving theclassification model.

A further aspect of the inventive subject matter includes acomputer-implemented method of automatically classifying content thatentails receiving user input that designates one or more documents asexemplars, receiving user input to cause a classification model to begenerated based on the exemplars, receiving user input to cause aplurality of other documents to be classified using the classificationmodel, displaying metrics indicative of a precision of theclassification model for the plurality of other documents that have beenclassified using the classification model, and displaying a userfeedback guide that presents recommended actions to improve theprecision of the classification model.

The details and particulars of these aspects of the inventive subjectmatter will now be described below, by way of example, with reference tothe attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter, which are described below,enable various techniques and approaches pertaining to theauto-classification of digital content or electronic documents.

By way of overview, and to place the novel technology in its propercontext, the novel technology should be understood as being part of oneor more processes of auto-classifying digital content. The improvedtechnology provides dynamic user feedback in the form of an onscreenguide or recommended actions that enables the user to refine anauto-classification model.

As will elaborated below, the inventive subject matter in generalprovides a computer-implemented method of automatically classifyingdigital content that comprises creating a classification model based onone or more selected documents that have been identified as exemplars,displaying metrics for a plurality of other documents that have beenclassified using the classification model, and displaying a userfeedback guide that presents recommended actions to refine theclassification model. Also disclosed herein is a computer-readablemedium for performing this method as well as an auto-classificationsystem for classifying digital content that displays a user feedbackguide for recommending to the user how to improve the accuracy of themodel used for classification.

FIG. 1 schematically depicts an exemplary computer network environment100 for implementing embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Insome embodiments, a computer-based auto-classification system includesclient computers 110 which communicate through a network 140 with one ormore content servers 120 to obtain digital content (electronicdocuments) stored on the one or more content servers 120. Thecomputer-implemented method may be performed by the client computers 110to classify content stored on the content servers.

In other embodiments, the content to be classified may be stored in amemory of the client computer itself.

In other embodiments, the content may be stored on a removable memorydevice, in the cloud, or in any other location accessible by thecomputer 110.

In yet other embodiments, the client computers 110 may act as terminals,hypertext browser clients, graphical display clients, or other networkedclients to the server 120. For example, a web browser application at theclient computers 110 may support interfacing with a web serverapplication at the server 120. Such a browser may use controls,plug-ins, or applets to support interfacing to the server 120. Theclient computers 110 can also use other customized programs,applications, or modules to interface with the server 120. The clientcomputers 110 can be desktop computers, laptops, handhelds, mobiledevices, mobile telephones, television set-top boxes, kiosks, servers,terminals, thin-clients, or any other computerized devices.

The network 140 may be any data communications network capable ofsupporting data communications between the client computers 110 and theservers 120. The network 140 may be wired, wireless, optical, radio,packet switched, circuit switched, or any combination thereof. Thenetwork 140 may use any topology, and links of the network 140 maysupport any networking technology, protocol, or bandwidth such asEthernet, DSL, cable modem, ATM, SONET, MPLS, PSTN, POTS modem, PONS,HFC, satellite, ISDN, WiFi, WiMax, mobile cellular, any combinationthereof, or any other data interconnection or networking mechanism. Thenetwork 140 may be an intranet, the Internet (or the World Wide Web), aLAN, WAN, MAN, or any other network for interconnecting computers. Tosupport high volume and load, a distributed computing environment may beimplemented by using networking technologies that may include, but arenot limited to, TCP/IP, RPC, RMI, HHTP, Web Services (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC,SOAP, etc.).

Although the computer 110 in most embodiments obtains the documentsdirectly from the content server 120, in another embodiment the systemmay optionally include an ingestion broker between the content serverand the computer that ingests, parses, processes, normalizes and/orstores documents for building models, testing the models and for runningclassification jobs. The ingestion broker supports extraction of textualcontent from static or binary files (like PDF and Microsoft Officedocuments) in the ingestion queue, and also supports chaining oftransformers and processors. Optionally, during the ingestion process,the system can also call a content analytics module or text annotator inorder to enrich documents with semantic annotations before they areimported for classification.

Turning now to FIG. 2, an exemplary computer (also referred to herein asa computing device) can execute software components and modules forauto-classifying digital content. The computer architecture shown inFIG. 2 illustrates a conventional desktop, laptop, or server and may beutilized to execute aspects of the software components presented herein.It should be appreciated, however, that the described softwarecomponents can also be executed on other computing devices such asmobile devices, handheld wireless communications devices, smart phones,tablets, set-top boxes, kiosks, etc.

The computer illustrated in FIG. 2 can include a central processing unit10 (CPU), also referred to herein as a processor or microprocessor, asystem memory 13, including a random access memory 14 (RAM) and aread-only memory 16 (ROM), and a system bus 11 that can couple thesystem memory 13 to the CPU 10. A basic input/output system (BIOS)containing the basic routines that help to transfer information betweenelements within the computer, such as during start-up, can be stored inthe ROM 16. The computer may further include a mass storage device 15for storing an operating system 18, software, data, and various programmodules. The auto-classification software 125 may be stored in the massstorage device 15.

The mass storage device 15 can be connected to the CPU 10 through a massstorage controller which is connected to the bus 11. The mass storagedevice 15 and its associated computer-readable media can providenon-volatile storage for the computer. Although the description ofcomputer-readable media contained herein refers to a mass storagedevice, such as a hard disk, solid-state drive or CD-ROM drive, itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readablemedia can be any available computer storage media that can be accessedby the computer.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. For example, computer-readable media includes, but is notlimited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid statememory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, or other optical storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store thedesired information and which can be accessed by the computer.

According to various embodiments of the inventive subject matter, thecomputer may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to remote computers through the network 140 (e.g., theInternet). The computer may connect to the network 140 through a networkinterface 19 which may be a communications port such as a DSL or cablemodem, Ethernet connection, or any suitable wired or wireless switch orrouter, etc. The network interface 19 is connected to the bus 11. Itshould be appreciated that the network interface unit 19 may also beutilized to connect to other types of networks and remote computersystems. The computer may also include an input/output controller 12 forreceiving and processing input from a number of other devices, includinga keyboard, mouse, or electronic stylus (not illustrated). Similarly, aninput/output controller 12 may provide output to a video display, aprinter, or other type of output device (also not illustrated).

A number of program modules and data files may be stored in the massstorage device 15 and RAM 14 of the computer, including an operatingsystem 18 suitable for controlling the operation of a networked desktop,laptop, server computer, or other computing environment. The massstorage device 15, ROM 16, and RAM 14 may also store one or more programmodules. In particular, the mass storage device 15, the ROM 16, and theRAM may store the auto-classification software application 125 forexecution by the CPU 10. The auto-classification application 125 caninclude software components for implementing portions of the processesdisclosed herein. The mass storage device 15, the ROM 16, and the RAM 14may also store other types of program modules for accessing thedocuments on the content server.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrates various exemplarycomponents of one example architecture of an auto-classification systemaccording to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Asillustrated, the system includes an auto-classifier module 300 or enginethat implements one or more algorithms for creating models, providingmetrics, suggesting recommended actions and classifying documents basedon a model. The system includes a connector 302 for communicating with aweb service 304 of a content server 306. The system includes a semanticplatform 308 for performing semantic analysis on the content forsemantic-based classification. The system includes a converter 310 whichcommunicates with a document conversion 312 service, a similar documentssearch module 314 that communicates with a similarity search engine 316and a rule engine 318 that liaises with a rule repository 320. Theauto-classification module may also have a front end 322 to provide oneor more user interfaces. It should be understood that this architectureis presented solely by way of example and that other embodiments of thisauto-classifier may have a different architecture.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the general method ofauto-classification. As depicted in FIG. 4, the method in generalentails an initial step 400 of creating a classification model.Alternatively, where an existing model has already been created, step400 may entail modifying an existing model. The method then involvestesting (at step 410) the model to assess its accuracy. The methodfurther involves presenting dynamic user feedback at step 420 based onthe testing. The method then determines (at step 430) whether the userwishes to refine the model in view of the metrics or other informationprovided as feedback to the user. If yes, operations cycle back to step400 whereby the model may be modified by the user, as will be explainedin greater detail below. If no, then the method entails running aclassification job to classify documents according to the model (at step440).

As will be explained below, the model may be built by importingexemplars (which are example documents whose content is meant toexemplify a category of content) and by defining rules. In someembodiments, after running a test classification on a small sample ofdocuments using the model, and after the user has performed a manualreview of a collection of the documents, the metrics are computed andpresented on the user interface to inform the user as to the accuracy ofthe model. The system then displays recommended actions to enable theuser to improve the model's accuracy. The recommended actions may bepresented as part of a guide that provides user feedback on the model'sclassification performance. This guide may be understood as providingdynamic user feedback in the sense that the user can iteratively tweakthe model and keep re-running the classifications to see how each changeto the model improves the model's accuracy. Each time the user re-runsthe classification, the guide will update the recommended actions toprovide updated feedback to the user based on the latest iteration ofthe model.

Now turning to FIG. 5, this method is summarized in general terms in theflowchart. The method entails a step 500 of creating a classificationmodel based on one or more selected documents that have been identifiedas exemplars. The method involves a subsequent step 510 of displayingmetrics for a set of documents that have been classified using theclassification model. The method further entails a step 520 ofdisplaying a user feedback guide that presents recommended actions torefine the classification model. The recommended actions (which take theform of recommendations, suggestions, tips, etc.) may be specific to oneof the metrics or applicable to two or more metrics. In one embodiment,the user guide that presents the recommendations may beuser-configurable (and/or responsive to user input) to providerecommendations related only to one metric or to a selected subset ofmetrics.

The recommended actions may be determined by a recommendation-generatingmodule/component (or engine, algorithm, artificial intelligence,heuristic, etc.) that determines one or more recommendations based onthe metrics. Thus, the method of FIG. 5 may further involve a step(which is not depicted in the flowchart) of determining or generating arecommendation by performing an analysis or computation based on one ormore of the metrics.

Various embodiments, aspects and embodiments of this technology will nowbe explained in greater detail below.

Metrics

The auto-classification system (auto-classifier) is configured toprovide feedback to the user in the form of metrics or other informationthat the user can review to determine whether the model is sufficientlyaccurate and for optionally adjusting the classification model toimprove its accuracy.

Metrics, which in some embodiments includes statistics including, butnot limited to, correlations, deviations, means, medians, variances,etc., may be displayed by the auto-classification system on a userinterface (screen) after running a classification on a set of documents.These metrics help the user determine what changes should be made beforeclassifying documents, for instance, before running an actualclassification job. In one embodiment of this technology, the systemprovides one or more of the following metrics:

Match—a “match” is a document that has an assigned classification thatis the same as the expected classification, which means that theauto-classification system has assigned the correct classification tothe document.

Noise—“noise” represents the documents where a currently viewedclassification was assigned, but a different classification wasexpected.

Silence—“silence” represents the documents where a currently viewedclassification was expected, but a different classification, or noclassification, was assigned.

Unclassified—“unclassified” which may be a subset of silence andrepresents the documents without an assigned classification.

Precision—“precision” is a property of the model, rather than a set ofdocuments. Expressed in most embodiments as a percentage, it representsthe proportion of assigned classifications that match the expectedclassifications. Precision is calculated using both the noise and matchmetrics, and is a very important measure of model accuracy. The resultsindicate the proportion of classified documents that will be correctlyclassified. The less noise a model has, the more precise the model is,which results in a higher accuracy level.

Recall—“recall” is a property of a model and represents the frequencywith which the expected classification is assigned across all processeddocuments, not just those that had a classification. Recall iscalculated using silence versus the number of matches. The resultsindicate the proportion of all documents that will be correctlyclassified when a classification job is run. Less silence results in abetter recall number.

While it is useful to present all of these metrics, in otherembodiments, the system may provide only a subset of these metrics.There may also be additional metrics (not mentioned above) in yetfurther embodiments of the system. Which metrics are presented and howthese metrics are presented may be user-configurable.

In one embodiment, the system will report a confidence level. Theconfidence level refers to the auto-classification system's level ofcertainty that it has assigned the correct classification to a document.It is determined by comparing a document to a set of exemplars, addingthe classifications for the exemplars, and calculating a confidencescore based on the information.

In one specific embodiment, the confidence level may be assigned basedon a plurality of predefined levels, for example five predefined levels,as shown by way of example in the following list: Unclassified [Level1]; Poor [Level 2]; Fair [Level 3]; Good [Level 4]; and Very Good [Level5]. In this particular example, when a document receives a confidencelevel of only “1”, it means that the auto-classification systemprocessed the document, but could not determine which classification toassign. Documents with a confidence level of “1” are thus unclassified.A confidence level scoring of 1-5 is clearly only intended as oneexample of how confidence level scoring may be implemented.

At low confidence levels, the assigned classification has a lowprobability of being correct. However, some documents with lowconfidence levels could still be accurately classified. High confidencelevels mean the assigned classification has a high probability of beingcorrect. However, some documents could still be inaccurately classified.Reviewing the documents with the highest and lowest confidence levelscan help the user locate auto-classification system errors. In somecases, these classifications could have ambiguous exemplars or rules.The guide may optionally indicate this to the user.

Creating and Managing Models

A model is notionally a container that holds a set of classifieddocuments that are used as examples (referred to herein as “exemplars”)to train the model.

To begin the process of creating a model, on the auto-classificationdashboard (or other user interface), the user selects a user interfaceelement (e.g., clicks on “create a model”). In one embodiment, a modelcreation assistant wizard is launched to guide the user through themodel creation process. In one embodiment, this wizard prompts the userto type a name and description for the model. To create the model, theuser adds documents and exemplars from the content server (or otherdocument source). The user may also optionally create rules. Thus, themodel requires at least one exemplar although better results areachieved by using a plurality of exemplars. Rules may be added todictate certain classifications, as will be explained below. In mostembodiments, the system enables the models to be deleted, viewed andedited.

The model creation process may also request that the user select theclassifications that are to be imported into the model. The modelcreation process may also request that the user choose whether to allowsampling to automatically select test documents. When the samplingoption is enabled, the auto-classification system automatically selectsa set of exemplars to use as test documents. These test documents arechosen randomly from the documents that are imported into the model atthe time it is created. If the user does not want test documents to beautomatically chosen, the user can select the test. In one embodiment,when the model creation begins, a status window opens to show the statusof the options that have been selected.

Each document identified as an exemplar and that is added to a model assuch represents the classification to which it is assigned. Theauto-classification system uses the exemplars as a basis for recognizingsimilar content and attributes for subsequently classifying otherdocuments. When the user selects documents (in a content server orelsewhere) that are to be automatically classified, theauto-classification system compares the documents to the exemplars andautomatically assigns the appropriate classification if thecharacteristics are a close enough match.

After a model is created, the system permits the user to add moreexemplars. This may, for example, be done in response to the guidepresenting a recommended action to the user to add more exemplars. Inone specific embodiment, the user interface of the auto-classificationsystem may provide an Add Document button (or it may provide any otherequivalent user interface element for this functionality). In thisparticular embodiment, an Add Documents Assistant may be displayed toguide the user through the process of adding a document as an additionalexemplar. In this embodiment, the Add Document Assistant may include thefollowing functions:

(i) Select Classification(s), which displays a list of availableclassification trees in the content server. This enables the user toselect individual classifications or to select an entire classificationtree, and to import all of the documents with that classificationassigned. The auto-classification system can be configured to retrievedocuments with the specified classification from every location in thecontent server. Content may also be imported into theauto-classification system from any other content source or repository,e.g., content management systems (CMS), file systems, etc.

(ii) Sampling Settings, which, when enabled, allow the system to selecta random set of documents from the set of documents being imported, andconvert them to test documents. Test documents are used to test themodel's accuracy before creating an actual classification job. If theuser does not want test documents automatically selected, this samplingfeature may be disabled when adding exemplars.

(iii) Classification Settings, which allows the user to run aclassification test on the model once documents are added.

(iv) Summary, which provides a short summary of the options selected.

In one embodiment, the system enables exemplars to be converted intotest documents.

In another embodiment, the system enables exemplars to be deleted orremoved for a classification. Because a classification must alwayscontain at least one exemplar, any command to delete the last remainingexemplar for a classification may cause the system to display a warningmessage stating that the classification will be removed along with theselected exemplar(s). Likewise, because a model requires at least oneexemplar, the system may display a warning in response to a command todelete the last exemplar from a model.

Rules

Creating the classification model may optionally comprise defining atleast one classification rule. Each rule comprises a rule prioritydetermining an order in which rule is applied, a confidence level to beapplied to a document when the document satisfies a condition specifiedby the rule and an applied classification that is to be applied to thedocument.

In addition to using exemplars, the system enables the user to add oneor more rules to a model to help the auto-classification systemaccurately assign classifications to documents. In one embodiment, thesystem requires that there be at least one classification with at leastone exemplar before a rule may be added, although in other embodimentsthis is not necessarily so.

In one embodiment, a rule may be created by specifying: a rule name anda rule priority. The priority may be expressed as a number, e.g., thelower the number, the lower the priority. For example, given two ruleswith priorities of 99 and 50, the rule with the priority of 99 will runfirst, followed by the rule with a priority of 50. The rule may alsospecify a confidence level, which may, for example, range from Level 2to Level 5 to represent the level of certainty that the user wants toapply to the document when the rule finds a matching document. In otherwords, the confidence level of a rule is based on the level of certaintythe rule creator has that the conditions of the rule will match onlydocuments that should receive the classification. The rule may alsostipulate an applied classification, which is the classification theuser wish to apply to a document when the specified conditions are met.The list is populated with the names of all classifications representedin the model.

Once the user has specified the parameters for the rule, the user canenter conditions that must be met for the rule to assign the selectedclassification to a document. The following parameters can be defined:

(i) Field Name, which allows the user to specify the part of thedocument that the user expects the text/information, as defined in theValue parameter below, to appear.

(ii) Operator, which allows the user to specify whether the Field Nameparameter equals or does not equal, matches, or contains thetext/information, as defined by the Value parameter below.

(iii) Value, which allows the user to enter text or other charactersthat the user wants found in the part of the document defined by theField Name parameter.

In some embodiments, the system enables rules to be not only created butalso viewed, changed (edited), and deleted.

Testing a Model for Accuracy

When a model has been created and contains exemplars, tools provided bythe auto-classification system enable a user to run tests on the modelto assess its accuracy. A test run may be performed on a small trainingcorpus of documents that the user selects for this purpose. Based on areview collection, the system displays classification metrics on ametric panel from this test run to provide the user with feedback on theaccuracy of the model. The metrics displayed in the metrics panel enablethe user to optimize a model's accuracy.

The review collection is a set of non-classified documents from acontent server on which a classification test is run. A reviewcollection enables the user to compare the accuracy of a classificationassigned by the auto-classification system (by applying the model) withthe classification that the user would assign manually. Assignedclassifications may be accepted or rejected. The user may specify anexpected classification for each document that has been misclassified.Based on the manual review, the system will know which documents havebeen correctly classified and which documents have not.

As depicted by way of example in FIG. 6, the system may present dynamicuser feedback in the form of a guide presenting recommended actions (orrecommendations, suggestions or tips) for optimizing the accuracy of themodel. This guide may be displayed on the user interface in the form ofa panel, window, dialog box, etc. In some embodiments, the guide isselectively displayed based on the metrics, e.g., based on the accuracy.In most embodiments, the guide is displayed even if the accuracy isextremely high. Optionally, in other embodiments, the dynamic userfeedback guide may be activated and displayed only when the accuracyfalls below a predetermined threshold. For example, if the recall and/orprecision values are below a predetermined threshold, the guide may beactivated and displayed onscreen. The guide may comprise user interfaceelements (e.g., remedial action buttons that may be clicked or touchedto display more details, help information, or to bring the user to theproper menu or tab, or to launch a function that performs or at leastinitiates the remedial action). In one embodiment, the guide may includeany visual or audible alerts.

In some embodiments, the dynamic user feedback guide may beautomatically activated and displayed on the computing device withoutuser intervention or user input (other than running the classificationtest). In other embodiments, the dynamic user feedback guide is onlyactivated and displayed in response to user input on a user-selectableinterface element.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of an auto-classification user interfacethat includes a dynamic user feedback guide in accordance withembodiments of the inventive subject matter. The auto-classification UI600 is displayed on a display screen of a computing device. The UI maypresent or display a metrics summary 610 for the classification test.The metrics summary may present metrics that include, for example,matches, noise, silence, unclassified, precision and recall. A subset ofthese may be displayed in a variant. Similarly, the metrics summary mayinclude other metrics not illustrated in this example.

As further depicted by way of example in FIG. 6, the UI 600 may includea review pane 620. The review pane presents classifications 622 whichare denoted generically in this example as classification #1,classification #2, etc. Associated with each classification is auser-selectable interface element 624 that is responsive to user inputto enable the user to accept or reject each classification. These may bein the form of buttons as shown by way of example in FIG. 6 or any othersuitable interface element(s) may be employed.

As further depicted in FIG. 6, the UI 600 includes a dynamic userfeedback guide 630. This guide 630 presents recommendations 632, 634 orrecommended actions, suggestions, tips, or other information that guidesthe user in the process of refining the classification model to obtainbetter results. As shown in this example, a first recommendation 632 ispresented along with a second recommendation 636.

As illustrated by way of example in FIG. 6, recommendation #1 suggests“YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH DOCUMENTS FOR A STATISTICALLY VALID SAMPLE TOOBTAIN YOUR DESIRED CONFIDENCE LEVEL.” A user interface element 634 isdisplayed to enable the user to remedy the deficiency by clicking on therecommended action (e.g., “CLICK HERE TO ADD MORE DOCUMENTS”).Similarly, recommendation #2 suggests “YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGHEXEMPLARS.” A user interface element 638 presents a remedial action tothe problem identified by the dynamic user feedback guide and enablesthe user to perform the recommended remedial action by clicking on thisuser interface element 638 (e.g., “CLICK HERE TO ADD MORE EXEMPLARS”).Optionally, a “MORE DETAIL” button 640 (or other suitable user interfaceelement) may be displayed as shown by way of example in FIG. 6 to causethe dynamic user feedback guide to present more detailed information,e.g., about the various metrics and/or the underlying theory of howthese metrics are determined and/or how exemplar and/or rules operate,and/or how the classification model works.

In one embodiment, the recommendations (e.g., recommendation #1 andrecommendation #2) may be prioritized based on importance, for instance,the impact that the recommended action is likely to have on the overallaccuracy or other performance metric. In another embodiment, therecommendations are not prioritized. In still another embodiment,multiple recommendations may be linked, indicating that two or moreremedial actions should be taken in conjunction and indicating that onlyone of the actions alone would not suffice to ameliorate or correct theissue, problem or deficiency that has been identified.

In a further embodiment, the remedial action proposed or recommended bythe dynamic user feedback guide may indicate by words, colors, symbolsor graphically the expected likely effect or impact of the remedialaction on the metrics. For example, the remedial actions may have anumber, stars, color code, etc. indicating whether the action isexpected to have a major or significant impact on the issue or whetherit is likely to have a minor impact. It is also possible that thedynamic feedback guide may indicate that it is known what the impactmight be (e.g., with a symbol like a question mark, words or othersuitable graphics or icon).

Classifying Documents (Running a Classification Job)

After having created a model, assessed its accuracy, and having used areview collection to test the content server documents to classify, theuser may then run a classification job to classify documents based onthe model. Classification jobs may be run on groups of documents, entiredatabases, entire drives, subsets thereof or individually selectedgroups of documents.

When running the classification job, the auto-classification system maydisplay metrics for the number of documents processed, the number thathave been classified, the number that remain unclassified, the numberthat have been rejected and those assigned an uncertain status (whichmeans the document was classified but with a low confidence level, e.g.,a confidence level of 2 or 3). The auto-classification system mayfurther display these metrics as the classifying is being performedand/or after the classification job is complete. The system may furtherdisplay the metrics in various forms, such as for example graphs,charts, etc. The system may optionally further store metrics, e.g.,accuracy, over time to permit the user to observe, e.g., via a graph orother such means, whether there is an improvement or degradation in theaccuracy metrics.

In one alternative embodiment, the system may permit the creation of aplurality of models which can be created, utilized and refined bydifferent users at the same time. For example, this may be done bycreating different versions of the same model. This would enabledifferent users to employ different approaches, to view their ownresults and to concentrate on their own aspects of the classificationmodel.

The technology disclosed herein enables the user to receive dynamic userfeedback in the form of a metrics panel as well as a guide presentingrecommended actions to improve the accuracy of the model. The improvedmetrics, user feedback and user-configurability of thisauto-classification system thus enhance the overall transparency anddefensibility of the auto-classification process.

Any of the methods disclosed herein may be implemented in a particularmachine including hardware, software, firmware or any combinationthereof. Where implemented as software, the method steps, acts oroperations may be programmed or coded as computer-readable instructionsand recorded electronically, magnetically or optically on anon-transitory computer-readable medium, computer-readable memory,machine-readable memory or computer program product. In other words, thecomputer-readable memory or computer-readable medium comprisesinstructions in code which when loaded into a memory and executed on aprocessor of a computing device cause the computing device to performone or more of the foregoing method(s). In a software embodiment,software components and modules may be implemented using standardprogramming languages including, but not limited to, object-orientedlanguages (e.g., Java, C++, C#, Smalltalk, etc.), functional languages(e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, etc.), procedural languages (e.g., C, Pascal,Ada, Modula, etc.), scripting languages (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python,JavaScript, VBScript, etc.), declarative languages (e.g., SQL, Prolog,etc.), or any other suitable programming language, version, extension orcombination thereof.

A computer-readable medium can be any non-transitory means that cancontain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the program for useby or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus ordevice. The computer-readable medium may be electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared or any semiconductor system ordevice. For example, computer executable code to perform the methodsdisclosed herein may be tangibly recorded on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium including, but not limited to, a floppy-disk, aCD-ROM, a DVD, RAM, ROM, EPROM, Flash Memory or any suitable memorycard, etc. The method may also be implemented in hardware. A hardwareembodiment might employ discrete logic circuits having logic gates forimplementing logic functions on data signals, an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) having appropriate combinational logic gates,a programmable gate array (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),etc.

This inventive subject matter has been described in terms of specificembodiments, embodiments and configurations which are intended to beexemplary only. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate,having read this disclosure, that many obvious variations, modificationsand refinements may be made without departing from the inventiveconcept(s) presented herein. The scope of the exclusive right sought bythe Applicant(s) is therefore intended to be limited solely by theappended claims.

1. A computer-implemented method of automatically classifying digitalcontent, the method comprising: creating a classification model based onone or more selected documents that have been identified as exemplars;displaying metrics for a plurality of other documents that have beenclassified using the classification model; and displaying a userfeedback guide that presents recommended actions to refine theclassification model.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 whereindisplaying the user feedback guide comprises presenting a recommendedaction to change a number of exemplars.
 3. The method as claimed inclaim 1 wherein displaying the user feedback guide comprises presentinga recommended action to review a greater number of classified documentsto improve a confidence level.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 1wherein displaying the metrics comprises displaying values for precisionand recall, wherein the precision represents a frequency with which anassigned classification matches an expected classification and whereinthe recall represents a frequency with which the expected classificationis assigned across all processed documents.
 5. The method as claimed inclaim 1 wherein displaying metrics is in response to a review of acollection of classified documents, wherein the review comprisesaccepting or rejecting an automatically assigned classification andwherein the review further comprises specifying an expectedclassification for any misclassified documents.
 6. The method as claimedin claim 1 wherein creating the classification model further comprisesdefining at least one classification rule, wherein the rule comprises arule priority determining an order in which rule is applied, aconfidence level to be applied to a document when the document satisfiesa condition specified by the rule and an applied classification that isto be applied to the document.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 1comprising prioritizing the recommended actions based on importance anddisplaying the recommended actions in order of priority.
 8. The methodas claimed in claim 1 comprising providing a user interface elementassociated with the user feedback guide that, in response to receipt ofuser input, causes the recommended action to be performed.
 9. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium comprising programmedinstructions in code which, when loaded into a memory and executed by aprocessor of a computing device, causes the computing device to: createa classification model based on one or more selected documents that havebeen identified as exemplars; display metrics for a plurality of otherdocuments that have been classified using the classification model; anddisplay a user feedback guide that presents recommended actions torefine the classification model.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 comprising code topresent a recommended action to change a number of exemplars.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 comprisingcode to present a recommended action to review a greater number ofclassified documents to improve a confidence level.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 comprisingcode to display values for precision and recall, wherein the precisionrepresents a frequency with which an assigned classification matches anexpected classification and wherein the recall represents a frequencywith which the expected classification is assigned across all processeddocuments.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed inclaim 9 wherein displaying metrics is in response to a review of acollection of classified documents, wherein the review comprisesaccepting or rejecting an automatically assigned classification andwherein the review further comprises specifying an expectedclassification for any misclassified documents.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 comprising code to defineat least one classification rule, wherein the rule comprises a rulepriority determining an order in which rule is applied, a confidencelevel to be applied to a document when the document satisfies acondition specified by the rule and an applied classification that is tobe applied to the document.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium as claimed in claim 9 comprising code for prioritizing therecommended actions based on importance and for displaying therecommended actions in order of priority.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium as claimed in claim 9 comprising code forproviding a user interface element associated with the user feedbackguide that causes the computing device to perform the recommended actionin response to receipt of user input.
 17. An automatic documentclassification system comprising: a processor coupled to a memory forcreating a classification model based on one or more selected documentsthat have been identified as exemplars; and a display for displayingmetrics for a plurality of other documents that have been classifiedusing the classification model and for displaying a user feedback guidethat presents recommended actions to refine the classification model.18. The system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the user feedback guidepresents a recommended action to change a number of exemplars.
 19. Thesystem as claimed in claim 17 wherein the user feedback guide presents arecommended action to review a greater number of classified documents toimprove a confidence level.
 20. The system as claimed in claim 17wherein the display presents values for precision and recall, whereinthe precision represents a frequency with which an assignedclassification matches an expected classification and wherein the recallrepresents a frequency with which the expected classification isassigned across all processed documents.
 21. The system as claimed inclaim 17 comprising a user input device to enable the user to perform areview of a collection of classified documents by accepting or rejectingan automatically assigned classification and by specifying an expectedclassification for any misclassified documents.
 22. The system asclaimed in claim 17 comprising a user input device to enable the user todefine at least one classification rule, wherein the rule comprises arule priority determining an order in which rule is applied, aconfidence level to be applied to a document when the document satisfiesa condition specified by the rule and an applied classification that isto be applied to the document.
 23. The system as claimed in claim 17wherein the recommended actions are prioritized and displayed in orderof priority.
 24. The system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the userfeedback guide comprises a user interface element that causes the systemto perform the recommended action in response to receipt of user input.25. A computer-implemented method of automatically classifying content,the method comprising: generating a classification model based on one ormore selected documents that have been identified as exemplars;classifying a plurality of other documents using the classificationmodel; displaying metrics for the plurality of other documents that havebeen classified using the classification model; determining recommendedactions based on the metrics to improve the classification model; anddisplaying a user feedback guide that presents the recommended actionsfor improving the classification model.
 26. The method as claimed inclaim 25 wherein displaying the metrics comprises displaying values forprecision and recall, wherein the precision represents a frequency withwhich an assigned classification matches an expected classification andwherein the recall represents a frequency with which the expectedclassification is assigned across all processed documents.
 27. Themethod as claimed in claim 26 wherein displaying the user feedback guidecomprises presenting a recommended action to change a number ofexemplars.
 28. The method as claimed in claim 26 wherein displaying theuser feedback guide comprises presenting a recommended action to reviewa greater number of classified documents to improve a confidence level.